Donna was usually shy around Lynn and the popular kids, but after this month of bizarreness, she had much more to worry about than if she would somehow miraculously become cool.
“Donna, I really love your outfit,” Lynn began, saying it in a nice voice, but Donna knew better.
“You too,” Donna said back.
Her dad sat down last. He was talking to Daisy about something that had him laughing. Seeing her dad happy made Donna smile.
“How were the in-laws?” Mr. Applegate asked her dad in his usual tone.
“The usual. Hate to see me, love to see Donna. Nothing really changes in twenty years.”
Donna smiled again shyly, not touching her soup, which she suspected was made of pure cream. Dinner went on like it always did. Donna’s father and Mr. Applegate talked while everyone else was pretty quiet.
“You know, your youngest godson beat your football record, Doug!” Mr. Applegate went on.
“I heard. Congratulations, Ryan. You’re making our town’s sprit very strong.”
“Thanks, Mr. Young,” Ryan commented through bits of turkey.
“I heard your Donna’s getting very good at gymnastics. It’s a shame the team isn’t in the spotlight as it used to be.”
“It’s fun,” Donna said nervously.
“Your coach, that Mrs. Longsmith, has told me great things about you.”
Donna felt her cheeks turn red and saw Lynn’s expression of disgust.
“We’re going to sponsor the winner of the tournament, not only for travel, but for room and board as well. That could be you, young lady,” Mr. Applegate told her.
Donna’s heart started beating and she felt a burst of excitement. Sponsor for room and board? That meant if she won she really would be free. With the new tricks her turning into electricity had allowed her to do … Her mind spun. Could the thing that made her lose Spencer and Rebecca end up helping her with her dream of leaving here?
“That’s so great that you’re doing that, Mr. Applegate,” her words slipped out.
“Well, if your grandfather hadn’t helped me, then I never would have been the man I am now. It would be an honor to return the favor one day.” Just then the mood in the room went from up to down. She could see her father’s look of discomfort and even annoyance. Randy looked mad too, though she didn’t know why, and Ryan and Lynn were silent.
“Excuse me, I’m going to use the restroom,” her dad said, getting up from the table.
“Thanks for sharing,” she heard Lynn whisper.
“Mr. Applegate?” Donna asked as Ryan and Randy started talking about something.
“Yes, dear?”
“My grandfather,” she paused, nervous, but glad Ryan and them weren’t paying attention. “Did he do magic tricks in front of you and my dad?”
Mr. Applegate's expression changed and he smiled. “Yes, he did. I’m surprised your dad’s told you about that. He hates to talk about your grandfather; though anyone would have been blessed to have him as a father,” he finished, sounding almost bitter. Donna felt clueless to the strange past of her father’s childhood he hated to talk about. “He was a brilliant man, making illusions seem so convincing you’d swear they were real.” He paused as if he was seeing it all before him. “It was something you could never shake yourself of.”
Those words, the way he spoke them, the way he said it … Donna felt herself shiver, and dug her nails into her fist to control herself. She found herself now sitting straight up instead of slouching as she had before. Could her grandfather have … ? Could Mr. Applegate have seen him change into … ? She had to ask, had to know. She thought carefully how to word her question.
“Did he ever—” she stopped; biting her lip so hard she thought she might start to bleed. Her dad had started walking back into the room. Mr. Applegate nodded at her, understanding her silence. Her chance was gone.
* * *
Spencer
Spencer brought the old couple out their food. There were only about five people in the whole restaurant and Spencer would have been bored to death if he weren’t serving Brook, Donna’s friend and potential alien. Spencer thought she was the hottest girl besides Lynn, and Donna, who’d gotten hot this year in a weird way, he’d ever seen in this town.
“Do you need anything else?”
“I’m fine,” she said, smiling at him .“You’re—,” she started to speak, right as he was about to turn away. “You’re related to the Applegate’s, aren’t you?”
Spencer turned around, stunned. “Me?”
“Yeah,” she stated causally. “Your not like a cousin or something?”
“Yeah, is this where you say, ‘you’ve been punked!’ Cause if it isn’t,” he pretended to take her plate away, “then I’m going to assume it’s something in the food. In which case I’m probably not going to be tipped out tonight,” he joked.
Brook gave him a sly nod. “I’ll take that as a no. I just thought, I don’t know. You have Randy’s younger brother’s eyes. Their same bone structure and lips.” She shrugged. “My mistake.”
Spencer smiled, disgusted but at least he had an opening. “Yeah, I guess. Only with these lips, you don’t have to worry about catching anything.”
She laughed. “Ok, a sense of humor. Yeah, I guess you couldn’t be related to the Applegate boys,” she teased him.
“Yeah, that, and I have a conscience,” he went on. He was on a roll now. He kept her laughing and for a split second, it was almost like being with Donna and Rebecca again. He felt happier than he had in this entire hell of a month.
* * *
Donna
They ate two more courses and Donna couldn’t believe how much Ryan, Randy, Mr. Applegate, and her father were able to stuff into their mouths. Lynn stopped eating ten minutes earlier, solely eating only the foods on her plate that were bad for her, as if to show Donna she was special enough to eat anything she pleased. Donna had been healthy, drinking a nutrition shake right before this so she wouldn’t be tempted. Though either way she knew Ryan was more than enough to make a girl not think about food.
“So, Donna,” Randy started; apparently he was in as much of a bullying mood as Lynn silently was, his voice full of fearless strength and mimicry. “Heard you and your friend went to West Applegate the other night.”
Donna froze, the whole table now staring at her. Just saying the words “West Applegate” was enough to make everyone in her town who’d gone to East Applegate High at some point turn their head. Even though it had been Ryan’s great-grandfather who all four of the Applegate towns were named after, East and West Applegate had always had the best athletes of the towns. They had always silently tried to prove who was better than the other. This family was no different.
“My—” Donna felt a mixture of humiliation and embarrassment. Why did Ryan have to know this? “—friend Brook knew some people there.” She didn’t know what else to say. It wasn’t the entire truth, but it was sort of true anyway.
“Interesting,” Randy said with his usual pissed off expression.
“Your friend certainly stands out in a town like this,” Lynn said, giving Donna an eye full of hatred and satisfaction.
“Yeah, she’s the best judge of character I know,” Donna said back. She was surprised by herself that she’d actually come up with a cool comeback and had enough guts to say it. Donna didn’t look at Lynn, Ryan, or Randy the rest of the dinner, too embarrassed, and a little afraid to deal with Lynn or Randy’s wrath. After Thanksgiving break they’re going to bury me for this … Unless I win the tournament.
On the way home, Donna rewound the whole dinner in her head. Had she really defended Brook and insulted Lynn all in one untouchable comment? It was the first time she’d ever stood up to anyone since she was twelve. She wondered to herself if it was because of how the people from West Applegate had made her feel. Or if her changing into … whatever it was, was affecting her mind. Or maybe with freedom to escape from this place being in her grasp, in the bac
k of her head she’d had the confidence of knowing she’d soon not have to deal with these people any longer. Whatever the reason, she liked it. Even if it had only lasted a moment.
***
Eight days later
Donna woke up and smiled; she was still in her outfit from last night when she and Brook had gone dancing with Cody and his gang again. The cheerleaders had made small conversation this time, and she’d dreamt about how different her life would have been if she’d gone to that school instead.
She saw Brook neatly folding all the clothes Donna had let her alter. Thankfully, Donna had managed to hide half of her stuff away, so she still had some of herself left to turn to. Brook’s style was great, but Donna knew she’d never have the guts to wear her new revealing wardrobe to school.
“Hey,” Brook said with a smile, seeing Donna was awake.
“Hey.”
“Have fun last night?” Brook jumped up on the bed and sat next to her.
“Yeah, it’s like some kind of parallel universe there,” Donna commented still in a daze.
“Yeah, people your age can actually be nice. Who knew?” Brook teased.
Donna wondered if she would have gone to school in West Applegate if they still would have been so nice to her. If they’d known about her grandfather, her father, and her former heavier self … Would they have looked at her the same? She pushed the thoughts away. All of that was over now, she knew without Brook she would never go back to West Applegate. Brook had given her so much.
“I’m so sad you’re leaving,” Donna started.
“Yeah, well, you’re going to win that tournament and be free of this place soon.”
“I hope so.”
“I know so,” Brook pressed on.
Donna smiled.
“I’m all packed, just wanted to wait till you woke up to say thanks for letting me crash here for a while.”
“You don’t want breakfast?”
“I drank a nice cold nutrition shake when I woke up. That’s all I need.”
“Ya know, you really helped me through some rough stuff. Thank you.”
“Just remember,” Brook stood up. “You make your own boundaries.”
Donna nodded, feeling as if she was getting advice from an older sister. She took in this moment of having a friend here, knowing that when she went to school Lynn was probably going to aim all her arrows at her. But it didn’t matter, because now Donna only had two missions: to find out what she was, and to win the tournament so she could get out of here.
* * *
Spencer
Spencer walked to school while on the cell phone he’d just bought for himself with his paycheck. He was talking to Collin, who was telling him about some new girl at his old school.
“Wish I was there right now,” Spencer said as he walked toward the school doors.
“There’s this one girl visiting with legs like—” He felt something pull on his backpack, stopping him from walking inside. He turned around only to see Randy’s fist smash into his face.
* * *
Donna
Brook dropped off Donna on her way out of town. For once Donna was going to get to her class right on time. She looked up and something was going on. The entire school was in a circle laughing around the flagpole. Donna knew right away someone was duct taped to that pole and instantly felt bad for the person being bullied. She started around the crowd, not wanting anything to do with the kids laughing and gossiping, relieved in times like this to be invisible among her classmates.
Donna saw Rebecca and Paul walking up closely behind her to go around as well. So she quickly dove into the crowd, changing her mind to avoid having to walk next to them and feel uncomfortable. She’d just have to push her way through to the doors. The heat and sweat from the crowd overrode any sort of coolness that had been in the air earlier from the change of season. All the cheerleaders were laughing.
“He’s actually kind of cute,” she heard Rose say to Courtney.
Donna’s eyes fell on Lynn and Ryan laughing; she looked away from them after a minute, not wanting to look like she was staring. They looked so perfect together, it was sickening.
Next Donna’s eyes fell on the victim. Right away at her first glimpse, she felt her heart drop. It was Spencer, taped to the pole in his boxers. His face was red, his eye black, his light brown hair messy and covered in sweat. He looked horrible. Her heart started beating painfully as she looked at Spencer’s bare arms. They looked like he’d been burned or something all the way down to his hands.
She had a flash in her mind of being carried by him through the woods. “She’s getting too hot!” she heard his voice in her head screaming. Donna’s eyes started to water and the heat from the crowd was making her body get warmer and warmer. Donna looked around over the heads of the others for a teacher but saw no one outside near them. She was sure one would come, but right now she felt hot and panicked. She opened her water bottle, taking a big gulp of it, trying to calm herself down, but she couldn’t.
She started pushing her way through the crowd and saw Randy standing in front of Spencer like a guard, daring any of Spencer’s friends that would want to cut him down. She dropped her backpack to the floor, grabbing for her keys, which had a pocket knife attached to them. Of course she had a pocket knife. Her dad was a handy man, after all. She grabbed it tight in her hand, and without thinking she stepped right in front of Randy, in front of everyone …
He looked at her with his hard, cold expression. She looked at Ryan, ignoring Lynn’s glares, and saw his expression had suddenly changed too when he saw her up there.
“Something I can do for you?” Randy barked.
“Yes,” she said, feeling her face turn red and eyes water. She saw Spencer stare at her, and then her eyes returned back to his blistered arms. For a moment she found it hard to speak. “Let him go,” she said in the highest voice she could come up with, which wasn’t very high.
“Not happening.” Randy looked away from her like she didn’t exist. She took a deep breath, not moving at all, staying firmly planted right in front of Randy.
“Donna, don’t,” Spencer started in a weak voice.
She could barely hear him, all the sound in her head was being blurred, and her vision was changing. Every shape seemed to fade to blue and black, like she was in a dark room. In the darkness there were small glowing lights.
The cell phone that was at the base of the pole, left alone at Spencer’s feet was … alive. All its glowing lights seemed to be separate beings, moving together within each other like an ant pile of electricity. Not just the phone, but electronics everywhere; on her classmates, past the glass doors inside the school, the lights on the ceiling and in the walls, all alive and singing to her. She could feel them. Everything else was faded and dark and she had to strain to see. It was like she was inside a photo room.
She took a breath, finding the dark shape of Randy in front of her again, seeing the shadows around the lines of his face. “Then take me instead,” she told him, interrupting Spencer, struggling to bring herself back to normal. She was changing.
The crowd was silent now, listening to every word. All their whispers seemed to meld up back into the darkness. Randy looked at Donna and kept his same expression, his gaze now burning into her, reading her every move.
* * *
Ryan
Ryan felt as if in moments things had gone from a good morning to an awful disaster. He usually got irritated with his brother’s bullying, but made an exception for Spencer Klingalsmith. He was the most annoying guy on campus, always insulting his girlfriend, and he just got on his nerves. He’d have done something about this guy years ago, but every time he saw him he was with Donna until recently.
It was all going fine, just fun and games, until Donna popped up out of nowhere and started petitioning for him to be cut from the flagpole. She looked so fragile and helpless, and all of a sudden all his friends and the student body transformed in front of his eyes i
nto monsters surrounding her. Every muscle in his body rumbled for him to protect her.
He had to fight his mind and his body, trying to keep his expression blank and still. Then she’d said to take her instead, and he saw his brother stare at Donna as if there were a wall of flames in between them and he felt himself moving toward them.
“Randy!” he said in a voice with great meaning behind it.
Randy stayed still a second, and Ryan saw what looked like the beginning of tears in Donna’s eyes. He felt himself moving closer and growing stronger. He couldn’t ever let anything happen to her. He had to protect her at all cost. He felt his heart’s beating already beginning to transform himself, every bit of self-containment seeping away from him. His bones, his muscles, his veins all beginning to …
His brother stepped away. Time stopped and then reset itself again. His fist unclenched and he made himself relax, feeling as if a ton of weight had been lifted off his back. Donna pulled a pocket knife off her key chain and started cutting Spencer down weakly. The crowd around them now was gasping and full of surprise and excitement.
“Only you would need a GIRL to save you, Klingalsmith, only you,” Randy snickered at him before walking away with the rest of the football team behind him.
Ryan walked away too. He knew he had to. With Lynn and the cheerleaders laughing beside him. The vision of Donna looking weak stayed in his mind, burned into it forever, because he’d stood by and let Randy do his crap. Just like when she was almost killed years ago, once again it was his fault …
* * *
Paul
Paul watched, Rebecca next to him, as the rest of the kids walked away into the school behind the cheerleaders and jocks like a stampede. Donna, Rebecca’s old best friend, cut Spencer free and helped him off the flagpole. It looked like they hit Spencer hard so they’d be able to strip him down and tape him up easier. They were truly monsters. Like bad children in a candy store, using what science had given them to bully others. Outside these walls, Paul didn’t want to imagine the numerous possibilities of what they did in the real world. Or what they’d be able to do in the future as full grown adults.
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